Hero Holiday at Mount Cook 2018

What better place to end a year of photo workshops than a Holiday at Mount Cook? After a cold 2016 and a somewhat rainy 2017 we could not wait to see what challenges the Cloudpiercer had in store for us this time.

Approaching the Cloudpiercer

Aoraki delivered yet another climatic extreme. Our troupe of photo afficionados encountered what might sadly be called the Climate Change Edition of the Holiday. Where frozen lakes and icy winds reigned in previous years, this excursion saw us confronted with T-Shirt temperatures at 5am. Surreal!

Kicking it off with camera basics

Fueled by this heat wave, our team of contestants tackled all challenges with an amazing level of energy. Track and lessons alike were tackled in record time. Calling this workshop a Holiday has always been an inside joke due to roughly 20 hours of learning we heap on our students over two full and two half days. And while that does not even include walking and shooting, the gang worked through everything that Rob and I threw at them with a smile.

Getting up close and personal with the geology

We love seeing a group’s varied bounty after letting them loose at the same location. Once again we were not disappointed by people’s interpretations of their subject matter in wide-angle or tele, long exposure or pano, colour or black and white. Every shot was as unique as its creator.

Being in the moment

Landscape photography is an exercise in working with what’s available. Almost every morning and evening it looked like the sky was about to explode in a riot of colour before just fizzling out. But our crew was not deterred and worked on their foreground compositions, long exposures and focus stacking techniques.

And then there was that one evening at Tasman Lake when the world went pink …

When the colour you’ve been craving finally shows up

Thank you to everyone who joined us on this amazing trip. Toasty weather, beautiful locations and, most importantly, great company made this a memorable Labour Day weekend. It’s just the boost we needed as we go into our summer break. We will be back with new trips and a whole new trip format in 2019. Watch this space!